Clases y Gringos

Today was the first day of classes, sort of. On Wednesdays I only have 2 hours of class, and after standing in front of our first class for 15 minutes, another faculty member came out to tell us that our professor is actually in Guayaquil until Friday so we don’t have class till Monday. With 50% of my day cancelled, I only had “Programa de Investigacción del Campo” today. This is the class that K College creates so we can get credit for doing research projects down here. It’s just the 8 K students in the ecology program, so that, in addition to my almost entirely international student Tropical Rainforest class lead to a very gringo-filled day. Still haven’t really met many Ecuadorians much, but tomorrow…. maybe? All my classes (Spanish, Volcanology, and Human Ecology) are pretty gringo-filled, although I am taking an art class in hopes of meeting some Ecuadorians that way.

We were warned ahead of time that it’s difficult to make friends with many of the Ecuadorians, since they’re pretty cliquey and it’s hard to enter, especially as a gringo. We were also warned, that as ecology students it would also be hard since we only have 2 electives outside of our 4 required classes.

On USFQ: It looks and feels like a country club. I know we were also warned about this ahead of time, but it’s true. It actually kind of reminds me, in a way, of Punahou, and how many of the students have lots of money and put much of their ego into their appearance (clothes and otherwise). It’s a very different environment than K, were most students wear fleeces and have nalgenes (not to say that K kids are all hippy environmentalists, although that would be awesome…, but simply that I get the sentiment that it’s a lot more relaxed in terms of appearance and status). Or maybe I’m oblivious to it at college, I’m not sure. In any case, there’s definitely a different vibe coming off the students, both Ecuadorians and gringos alike. At the international student party last night, there was definitely the vibe of some sort of pressure. Last Saturday, all of the K kids went out together (with a few Ecuadorian friends too) and we had a great time just hanging at the bar and dancing at the discoteque. At the party last night (which was gringo-landia for sure), there was almost a “stiff” feeling to the energy being emitted. It was interesting. Also interesting was that I once again felt very small compared to the very large, much older looking Caucasians that dominated the majority. After being in Quito for only one week, it was actually difficult for me to speak in English and be in the company of very white, very American students who are all much larger than I am. These are many of the same sentiments I felt when I first arrived at K for LandSea. After only week, I’m already feeling these things, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes after being here for longer.

Regardless, I am very excited to have something to do, like school, and to be able to be learning again, especially about super cool things like biodiversity in Ecuador, of all places! Although it reminds me a lot of home (lots of hibiscus, eucalyptus, and other flowers and trees, little birds that look like our java sparrows, and a larger bird that I think is some sort of myna…), there are still tons of things I don’t recognize. The fruit, for one, is very different. Have you ever heard of a guyanaba? I haven’t. Or tree tomatoes? I had it as a juice for breakfast this morning, and it kind of tastes like raw guava or not quite ripe strawberry guavas. Although guayana is guava, so that’s familiar, as well as Lilikois, although they have a Spanish name I can’t remember. We also have some of the hugest plantains/bananas I’ve ever seen too.

All in all, Ecuador has been a broad mix of things very familiar to Hawaii due to their tropical similarities, yet completely different from the United States as a still developing world.